Mumbai Crime: Man kidnaps friend's son to teach her a lesson

When their friendship went sour and she blocked his number, the 25-year-old hatched the kidnapping plot. Cops solved case within 24 hours, and reunited toddler with mother on Mother’s Day

Malwani cops solved a case of kidnapping within 24 hours and reunited the abducted toddler with his mother on Mother’s Day.

Reshma Patil reunited with her son Arnav

Reshma Patil (30) had lodged a complaint against her colleague and former friend Shyam Mandal (25) for abducting her son Arnav. Based on her complaint, cops booked Shyam under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC.

Primary investigation revealed that Shyam hails from Bihar and has a relative in Surat. Based on this information, a team from Malwani police left for Surat. A trap was laid at Surat railway station following which Shyam was nabbed at 10 pm on Sunday.

Senior Inspector Milind Khetle from Malwani police station said, “Acting on the information, we laid a trap and arrested him from Surat. The boy was then rescued and reunited with his mother on Mother’s Day. Even we were overwhelmed by their union.”

Motive behind kidnappingIn her statement, Reshma told the police that the two had known each other since the time they were colleagues at Jain Hospital Goregaon (West) five years ago. Their friendship grew stronger with passing time and Shyam started visiting Reshma’s residence at Azmi Nagar regularly. Later, the duo changed jobs and started working at an imitation jewellery manufacturing unit in Malwani.

But their relationship turned sour six months ago and Reshma decided to cut off ties with Shyam. However, this did not go down well with Shyam. He kept harassing Reshma by calling her frequently and asking her to reconsider her decision. Unable to handle it any further, she blocked Shyam’s number 15 days ago.

“This was the last straw and Shyam decided to teach Reshma a lesson. Being friends in the past, he knew Reshma would drop off her son at her sister’s residence for day care before leaving for work,” another police officer said.

On Saturday, Shyam visited Reshma’s sister’s residence in the neighbourhood around 5.30 pm and told her that he was taking Arnav out for a stroll. Unaware of the strained ties between the two, Reshma’s sister let him do so. It was when Shyam failed to show up, that the sister panicked and informed Reshma about the incident. The duo then approached Malwani police station and filed an FIR against Shyam, who is currently in police custody.